The Grinnell Magazine Winter 2011 What Makes Grinnell Distinctive? G Beautiful Social Justice Intense Fun Excellent Ambitious Awesome Rural Place Hard Eye-Opening Amazing Freedom Friendly Quirky Challenging Weird Liberal Independence Passion Community Academic Engaging Engaging Rigorous Student Musings Things I Need to Worry About … or thought I did. 1. SAT 2s. 1. First adviser meeting! 2. Get leadership position. 2. Go to bookstore BEFORE Thursday. 3. PRACTICE INTERVIEW!!! 3. EXTRACURRICULARS??? These items head a document on my computer This list, too, had its beady eye fxed on the future, called “Things I Need to Worry About.” I created again presuming each meeting, each paper, each the list in fall of 2009, when college application expressed interest was a trapdoor into which my future season was in full swing and the title wasn’t funny. could fall with even one misstep. Curiously, the pitch I’m not usually a multiple-exclamation-points kind of my worry never really matched the frenzied tone of of girl, but the worry that my entire future could be the earlier list — somehow I had relaxed. At home, when jeopardized by an overlooked deadline led to deranged asked how I was liking Grinnell, I told the truth but punctuation. In fact, every college-related thing I did spoke as if reading from a brochure: “I … love … it?” The carried an implicit !!!. sentiment seemed foreign to me; it felt strange to regard academia with anything less than wary apprehension. 4. Ask for recs (who??!) Now, two years after commemorating my worry with Photo by Ben Brewer ’11 Ben Brewer by Photo 5. Send midterm grades (MUST be higher!!!) exclamation-marked bullet points and one year after I sat sweating, surrounded by boxes in the August heat, my by Emily Deranged, indeed. I scoured message boards flled to-do list reads: Mester ’14, with acronyms that read like military code: “My S is who will soon applying ED2 to an LAC, he’s NMF but TBH his ECs 1. Call mom. declare an English aren’t great,” wrote tense parents with user names like 2. English paper. major. She is universityfreak23. [Translation: “My son is applying early 3. Four-year plan. originally from decision two to a liberal arts college, he’s a National Merit 4. Birthday cake. Riverside, Ill., Finalist but to be honest his extra curriculars aren’t great.”] likes to write poems, and has Whenever I talked to my parents, the conversation had The only time I use multiple exclamation points is worn many fne the emotional charge of a Super Bowl halftime speech: when I gleefully message my roommate to tell her there sweaters. We all are in this together and it really doesn’t matter if we are chickpea samosas in the dining hall. win or lose … as long as we defnitely win. Of course, Grinnell is no academic utopia where “Applying to college is stressful” is not exactly nobody worries and we all skip merrily through exams profound, but these remnants of my neuroticism surprise and papers into grad schools, jobs, and boundless joy. me now. They seem torn from some melodramatic It’s hard work, and I’m not exempt from the anxiety Lifetime TV movie called Acceptance, not my own life. that accompanies rigor. Worry is still a part of my life, Fall 2009 turned to winter 2010. Somehow I sure, but it has a sort of bright energy to it, a buoyancy managed to turn in every last self-promoting syllable of possibility that my 18-year-old self mistook for doom. to every one of the schools to which I applied. I guess I’m worried about where I should go abroad, because I some things happened in the news, but I wouldn’t know want to go everywhere. I’m worried about choosing four about them. I could only wait. March arrived, and letters classes for next semester, because I want to take nine. began to roll in. There were acceptances and rejections, I’m worried about which synonym for smooth works and more symbolic paper-ripping than I knew myself best in a poem I’m writing. I’m working as hard as ever, to be capable of. My list of things to worry about now but it is worry propelled by a much less sinister force. contained only one item: Thinking about the future is weird, but now it’s exciting, and I know that whatever happens, it will be 6. DECIDE!!!! fne. If ever I were to reintroduce the exclamation point to my personal-life advice, now would be the time: The Finally, in April, grasping a slim envelope with nail- future will be fne!!! bitten fngers, I did just that. My deposit to Grinnell was Oh, and if you were wondering, Acceptance is a in the mail, and the whole process was fnally fnished, Lifetime original movie starring Joan Cusack. Watching though I still wasn’t sure if I’d made the right decision. it is on my to-do list. I got to Grinnell that August, and before I had even unpacked, I was making another list: Webextras www.grinnell.edu/magextras Download this issue! The Grinnell Magazine is now available online in .pdf form Departments Student Musings .......inside front Things I Need to Worry About Emily Mester ’14 chronicles her recovery from college-application stress by re-reading three years worth of her to-do lists. Editornotes ..................2 Constanza Ocampo-Raeder ’95 takes part Conversation Starter How does a in the annual San Pedro festival in Piura, Peru magazine “host a conversation?” during her feld research. She¹s quoted in With your help! “A Propensity for Ph.D.s” beginning on page 34. Letters .................... 3 Hot Topics: The Grinnell 14, pinning down institutional peers, WHAT MAKES GRINNELL DISTINCTIVE? examining Zionism President Kington and the Strategic Planning Steering Committee Explorations ................ 8 are asking — and intend the answers to guide the College for generations to Self-governance: it works come. Here are fve of the hundreds of “distinctions” currently being discussed. Campusnotes ................ 4 Assessing student learning, 13 30 taking money for granted, self- The Grinnell Prize A Better Way to Teach Science governance, sustainability … The Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social by Tom Cech ’70 Classnotes ................. 38 Justice Prize is unique. Join four prizewinners and keynote speaker Morris Dees in Herrick Chapel A Nobel laureate in chemistry asks why Notable Alumni for highlights of their presentations. premier small liberal arts colleges generate a Meet Your Meat disproportionate number of leading scientists Devora Kimmleman-Block ’93 — and reveals his conclusions. Also: Tom Wolfe Bookers to the Bands on how Grinnell launched the career of Robert Carter Adams ’04 20 Noyce ’49. and John Chavez ’05 The Grinnell Soul In Memorium Alumni, students, and faculty and staff members 34 Track Coach Dick “Killer” Young agree that Grinnell College is like no other. Here President A. Richard Turner — in their own words — are some thoughts about A Propensity for Ph.D.s Trustee Steve Jobs why the College is both different and excellent. Trustee Elizabeth Kruidenier by Dan Weeks ’80 Alumni Musings ........inside back 26 Grinnell produces a distinctively high number Engage Me! of Ph.D.s in a range of disciplines. Alumni help Alumni suggest how. A Liberal Education explain why. by Geofrey Galt Harpham As with previous special issues on activism and Only 3 percent of American institutions of higher leadership, this one is intended as a conversation learning offer the type of education available at starter, not the last word. Please let us know Grinnell. The little-known history of American what you think at www.grinnell.edu/magazine, or liberal education — and its increasing rarity in spite contribute to Grinnell College’s strategic planning of its overwhelming success — may surprise you. process by sending your comment to [email protected]. The Grinnell Magazine Winter 2011 1 The Grinnell Magazine Winter 2011 Volume 44 Number 2 Email: [email protected] Ofce of Communications Acting Vice-president for Communications Angela Voos [email protected] Editor Dan Weeks ’80 [email protected] Art Director / Designer EDITORNOTES Jim Powers [email protected] Senior Contributing Writers Conversation Starter Richard Cleaver ’75 Cindy Deppe During October’s volunteer weekend, a group of about 50 class agents asked me a number of Classnotes Editor great questions about this magazine. When we were done talking, they suggested I share the Bonnie Primley gist of our conversation with magazine readers — and that I continue to talk with you about the [email protected] magazine in each issue. Editorial Assistant Mona Ghadiri ’11 Who are you? Contributing Photographer Ben Brewer ’11 I’m Dan Weeks ’80, back in Grinnell after 25-plus years of editing consumer magazines. I arrived in time to produce the Winter 2010 issue, taking over from Jacqueline Hartling Stolze, The Grinnell Magazine (ISSN 1539-0950) is published quarterly by who ably edited this publication for 13 years. Grinnell College, Offce of Communications, 1026 Park St., Grinnell, IA 50112. Periodicals postage paid at Grinnell, IA, and additional How do you see the magazine changing? mailing offces. The College is moving from a message-centered focus (“Hear this!”) to an audience-engaging © Copyright Grinnell College, 2011 focus (“Let’s talk about this!”). It’s analogous to moving from teaching by lecture to teaching POSTMASTER by discussion. So the magazine’s job is to host conversations about the College and all things Send address changes to: The Grinnell Magazine Grinnellian. 1026 Park Street Grinnell, IA 50112 FAX: 641-269-3408 How does a magazine “host conversations?” Email: [email protected] .